How to set the orientation of your model to be the same as SW's model render would be useful. And the uses of the .dae to ease scaling problems.
Your tut was great. It will help many new users, as some good tidbits for older users.

Have any questions regarding Blender, and need fast answers, you are always welcome at the IRC Server Freenode, channel #blender. As a bonus, several there have experience in modelling for 3D prints.

With DAE there isn't any way to match the Sketchup render with the SW render, but you can change the orientation of the model in Sketchup so you get the desired render on Shapeways.

When exporting to DAE, the red/blue plane is treated as the base, so just before exporting, rotate your model 90 degrees. Make the model a group, and use the move tool on the little red 'plus' sign that shows up on the bounding box to rotate the model quickly. See here:

When you upload to Shapeways, the model will be shown in the "before" orientation.